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Cablevision has been quietly working with Bear Stearns on ways to enhance shareholder value, including putting a value on its Rainbow Media unit ahead of a possible sale and drawing up a list of targets for potential acquisitions, The Post has learned.

Several sources said that after being sidelined for months in the aftermath of the Dolan family’s failed attempt to go private, the family is trying to “figure out the math” for Cablevision’s next move.

According to these sources, the Dolans have directed their longtime bankers at Bear Stearns to pursue a two-pronged approach.

The first is to put a valuation on the company’s Rainbow Media division, whose main and most valuable assets are cable networks AMC, IFC and We: Women’s Entertainment.

In the past, the unit has been valued at around $3 billion, but the Dolans are banking on the emergence of AMC as cable’s hottest network – with such critically praised shows as “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” – to kick that figure up a notch.

Cablevision has tried several times in the past to sell Rainbow but has been unable to reach a price it considered suitable. That was made clear by Liberty Media’s John Malone – widely seen as a would-be Rainbow suitor – when he told The Post at last summer’s Sun Valley media conference that the difference between what he was willing to pay and what the Dolans wanted was “2-to-1.”

Sources also tagged News Corp., which has looked at Rainbow in the past, as a potential buyer should the asset be put up for sale. News Corp. owns The Post.

Bear Stearns’ second directive, based on not selling Rainbow, is to look at acquisitions.

One source inside Cablevision said that Rainbow executives were asked to compile a wish list of potential acquisition targets. Sources said the list would be added to a master list that Bear Stearns has been charged with making of assets that would fit in the Cablevision organization.

According to sources, a preliminary list has already been drawn up, and it includes Web sites, cable networks and music venues.

The company has already bid for wireless spectrum being auctioned off by the federal government, which if successful could help them pursue acquisitions in that area. And sources suggested the company might look for ways to bulk up Madison Square Garden and its sports-related assets. For example, last summer Cablevision made a play for the Yankees and its related YES network.

Cablevision hasn’t been an avid seller or acquirer, but after four failed attempts to go private, the Dolans are looking to do something to reinvigorate the company at a time when investors have soured on cable companies.

The company doesn’t have a lot of cash on its books – about $800 million – but its projected free cash flow gives it substantial room to make some purchases.

Wall Street analysts estimate Cablevision will generate between $600 million and $700 million in free cash flow this year and significantly more after that.

Even at the low end of this year’s free cash flow projection, Cablevision would have the debt capacity to acquire about $2 billion worth of assets, sources said. Selling Rainbow would only increase the amount Cablevision could spend on acquisitions.

A Cablevision spokesman said only that “it is Cablevision’s long-standing policy not to comment on rumors or speculation in the media.”